Major financial publications appeared to be in disagreement this month, publishing three different dates for when 319 million additional shares of SpaceX would unlock this month.

At Wednesday’s share price, that unlock is worth about $46 billion — a figure that should certainly motivate shareholders to decide on an exact date for the expansion of the float.

However, nobody seemed to know.

• CNBC reported, “On Aug. 20, another 319 million shares could unlock, according to the prospectus.” 
• Quartz guessed earlier, crediting Barron’s, “A second release of 319 million shares is scheduled for Aug. 12.” 
• TechTimes and TradingKey went with August 12, too.
• Motley Fool guessed a later date, telling readers, “On the 70th calendar day following SpaceX’s debut, which is nine days from now on Aug. 21, another 7% of early release-eligible insider shares are available to be sold.” 
• A website tracking SpaceX dated the unlock “~August 21, 2026,” indicating obvious confusion.

The unlock, as described in the prospectus, isn’t precisely 319 million but “up to 319 million shares” plus the possibility of more given that the figure “excludes shares held by ‘affiliates.’”

For practical purposes, we’ll adopt that convention below.

...read more at protos.com